Mastering the Premier League: The Tactical Concepts Behind Pep Guardiola's Manchester City

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Introduction

In retrospect, the genesis of this book was actually some time ago. I was writing on a semi-regular basis for a couple of well-known websites and my writing, predominantly based on the tactical side of the game, was well received. I was contacted by someone that I knew only through social media, a man named Chris Darwen, who had the idea of starting a new website that would focus on the tactical side of the game. Chris wanted to know if this was something that I would be interested in. Well, of course I was: the opportunity to write in the way that I wanted to about the subject that fascinated me was too good to turn down. This site would come with financial backing and as such Chris wanted me to write a manifesto for the site that would sell the idea to the investors.

This was the first time that I had ever had to sit down and consider why I actually write the way that I do. I was lucky enough to have been invited to join the fantastic tactical website Spielverlagerung but my writing there never took off. I realised that I did not fit with the philosophy of why they write. The incredibly talented group at SV write in order to educate themselves. The readers are important, to an extent, but the overriding ‘why’ for their site was to further their own self-improvement. I should be clear that I am in no way being critical of this idea and the talent that has written on that site is astounding. I am still an avid reader whenever a new post is released.

What then was my ‘why’? I realised that I wanted to show people that the idea of tactical concepts and trends was not overly complicated. I wanted to simplify elements of the language that surrounds this side of the game and make it accessible to all of those that were interested but did not know where or how to start understanding. That was the core of the manifesto that I created and that process has now led to the magnificent Total Football Analysis website and to my being able to call Chris a friend.

I first fell in love with the football of Pep Guardiola, as so many others did, when the Spaniard was coaching FC Barcelona. Guardiola changed the world of football with that team and introduced to many the concept of controlling and manipulating space as his side progressed towards the opposition goal via a series of short passes that mesmerised the opposition and those watching alike.

Not only did Guardiola change the way that football was viewed from the inside; he also did the same for those of us watching from afar. The prism through which we viewed football was changed forever.

When Guardiola left Barcelona and eventually joined Bayern Munich we saw a new side of the Spanish coach. He assimilated into German football and took some aspects of the game there and introduced them into his game model.

If his time at Barcelona gave us Lionel Messi and the false nine, then Bayern Munich gave us Philipp Lahm and the inverted full-back. Guardiola seemed to be capable of finding new solutions to ensure that key spaces were always occupied and exploited and he did so in new and creative ways.

Then it was time for Guardiola to take his fascinating game model to these shores as coach of the already impressive Manchester City. After a difficult first season in charge, in which the coach learnt a lot about certain aspects of the British game, we then saw Manchester City blow apart the majority of their opposition over the course of the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. The former saw the team set records for points gained and the latter saw them perform at such a high level that they retained their Premier League title despite Liverpool performing incredibly well and running them so close that the league was decided on the last day of the season.

Now feels like the right time to take all that I have learnt about Guardiola over the years and try to explain just what makes City so effective on the pitch.

There are those, of course, who will point at the levels of spending and suggest that without significant levels of financial backing Guardiola could not be successful. While the capacity of City to spend is largely unmatched in the football world it does not take into account the ability of Guardiola to improve players. Under his coaching we see good players become great and great players become world class. This is what Guardiola brings you, a level of detailed thinking on and off the pitch that can improve the performances of each player by the ten per cent needed to make his club successful.

We have often heard stories throughout his career from former players detailing the way that Guardiola would prepare them for games. The predictions that he would make to his players before games of how the opposition would set up and how they would react to City, almost always came true.

The tactical concepts used most often by City are relatively simple when broken down. What makes them so effective, however, is the way that they execute these concepts with unerring efficiency. Over the course of this book, I hope to be able to offer you a clear insight into why and how City move and pass the way that they do. At the end of the book if you are now able to enjoy the style of play used by Guardiola even just a little more, then I will judge my efforts to have been a success.

Firstly, before we get into the tactical concepts promised, I want to introduce you to a small piece of language that you may already be familiar with through your own reading or writing. That is the often misunderstood ‘half-space’. This term is one that I use throughout my writing and I have done so for some time now. There are some, especially on social media, who consider it to be useless jargon. In fact, it is an integral part of understanding the tactical concepts of Guardiola and Manchester City and it is not at all complicated.

In figure 1 we see an image of a pitch that I have used to create all of the images for this book. The pitch is split into five vertical channels that are labelled from one to five from left to right. Channels two and four are the half-spaces. They refer to areas of the field that Pep Guardiola likes to have occupied when his team are in the attacking phase. If they do so properly then the opposition are forced to move from their defensive position to cover these areas and that opens space elsewhere. See, not complicated at all.

Chapter 1

Playing Out from the Back

It has become a common sight when watching Manchester City under Pep Guardiola to see the central defenders and goalkeeper engaging in periods of combination football that would not be out of place around the opposition penalty area. Such is the ability with the ball that these players possess, they are able to receive the ball in tight areas under extreme pressure.

We saw the importance placed on this concept by Guardiola in the way that he approached the goalkeeper position upon being appointed. The first choice goalkeeper at City when the Spaniard took charge was England international Joe Hart. It took no time at all for Guardiola to assert that Hart would not be part of his plans; there were huge doubts surrounding his ability to play with the ball at his feet under pressure.

Initially, we saw City turn to Barcelona, and they signed Chilean international Claudio Bravo. Unfortunately, this move proved to be largely disastrous and by the start of the 2017/18 season, the club were forced back into the transfer market again, this time securing the signature of the Brazilian international Ederson from Portuguese giants Benfica.

So far in his career in England, we have seen Ederson gain plaudits not only for his shot-stopping ability but also for his distribution and ability to contribute to the build-up phase.

The ability to control possession in the attacking phase from the defensive third is a key concept for the game model installed by Guardiola at City.

In order for them to be able to play forward through the thirds and create opportunities in the final third, the initial ball out from the back has to be clean. In order to achieve this clean ball progression, there are certain automatic movements that we see time and time again from City depending on the numerical match-ups faced by their defensive players. If the opposition only commits one player to press the ball in the initial moments then the build-up is fairly simple as the two central defenders split to the sides of the penalty area and form a wide triangle with the goalkeeper and outplay the pressing player. When the opposition starts to press with more players then the situation becomes progressively more complex. Two pressing players will see the deepest sitting midfielder drop back to give a passing option and provide numerical superiority for the pass. A third pressing player sees a further option added for City with either a full-back or one of the two more advanced central midfielders dropping back in order to secure the clean progression of the ball. Indeed, there is a simple formula to the idea behind this style of ball progression: the +1 rule.

In order to secure the ball and enable the play to develop from the defensive third into the more advanced areas, City need to create numerical superiority over their opponents. The basic idea, therefore, is to have at least one more player offering passing options from the first moment of the build-up of play than the opposition has committed to pressing the ball. This should always ensure that there is at least one free player available to receive a pass.

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule: there are some opponents, Liverpool for example, who press intelligently using angled runs that allow one pressing player to cover two City players. When faced with sides that adopt a more intelligent pressing model we tend to see City use more complex rotations to ensure that they are still able to play through the press.

It is important to note that the above does not mean that City look to play the short pass out from the goalkeeper every single time. With Ederson in goal, there is the option to play a slightly more direct pass over a medium range that can bypass the press and find a player in space behind the opposition press. This option is contrary to the belief that many people held after Guardiola’s first season at City that the Spaniard was so focused on a single model of play that he would not allow any deviation from that model. Instead, we see City adopt a flexible approach to their game model, in possession, that can be adapted depending on the tactical approach that is used by the opposition. This makes it far more difficult for opposing coaches to develop and install an effective defensive game plan when they are preparing to face City. Should they press high and in numbers and give up the medium pass over the top to the full-backs or central midfielders? Or should they drop slightly deeper and allow City to progress the ball from the goalkeeper in a clean and easy manner? Now, after three seasons in the Premier League, the majority of coaches, and even casual fans and pundits, can see what City want to do at the beginning of their attacking phase. The issue is that reacting to stop one aspect of the City build-up leaves you wide open to another. You are essentially damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

It is this impossible choice that makes it so difficult to play against this City side and to prevent them from securing safe possession of the ball. There are times in which sides will adopt a high press against City as they are progressing the ball up from the first third. It is a mark of the importance that Guardiola places on this concept that the coach is willing to allow for his defensive players to make mistakes when playing out in this manner.

In the early stages of his tenure as coach, there were points in the season where the media were critical of the mistakes made by the central defender John Stones in particular. Whenever Guardiola was questioned by these media outlets about the mistakes being made by the young defender, the coach was vocal in his support for the players, stating that any mistakes were the responsibility of the coaching staff who were working in training to implement their game model. This support from Guardiola and the other first-team coaches allowed the players in the defensive unit to learn and assimilate all of the information being fed to them in a safe environment. It would have been easy for the